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Animal Justice Canada is weighing into the debate over what should happen to 21 pitbull-type dogs seized from an alleged dog-fighting ring near Merlin in October.

Camille Labchuk, executive director of the federally incorporated not-for-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the humane treatment of animals, says the Ontario SPCA is blinded by its own authority.

"The organization that is suppose to be on the animal side here is actually attempting to execute them, so it really throws off the balance of the court system," Labchuk told The Chatham Daily News Monday.

The Ontario SPCA has filed an application to humanely euthanize 21 of the 31 dogs it seized Oct. 9 from a rural property on Morris Line in Chatham-Kent, citing U.S. industry experts' assessments of the dogs.

Since the seizure, three of the dogs were put down in December and seven were deemed eligible for rehabilitation and re-homing outside Ontario, which bans pit-bull ownership.

A date to hear the application in Chatham court is scheduled to be set on March 10.

Labchuk says Animal Justice will seek to intervene in the case.

"We're going to attempt to, it's always up to the court which has the final say over everything," she said.

But Animal Justice has intervened in the matter of animal sexual abuse before the Supreme Court of Canada.

"I expect being recognized by the country's top court will have a lot of play and influence with this court in Chatham," Labchuk said.

"My ultimate goal is to present before the court evidence from experts in dog behaviour and assessing dogs, especially dogs who have been involved in dog fighting before.

"What I have seen in the court file of what the OSPCA has filed is insufficient to make any predictions about the dogs' future behaviour," she said.

"The information provided is quite thin. Before the court makes any sort of determination about what the future of these dogs should be, it should hear evidence from somebody who is qualified to make these assessments."

Labchuk said she would also inform the Chatham court about the outcome of the NFL quarterback Michael Vick case involving over 50 fight-trained dogs.

"I think the court also needs to be made aware of the outcome in the Vick case and how successful rehabilitation efforts were for dogs in that case who were also being initially written off," she said.

If granted status to speak to the Ontario SPCA application, Labchuk said: "Court needs to hear want's wrong with the assessment, why they can't be used to predict future behaviour and why it's appropriate to give these dogs a second chance before deciding what should happen with them."

Labchuk said U.S. dog literature and scientific journals suggest the types of tests performed on the dogs seized in Chatham-Kent are not necessarily predictive of future success.

"They were assessed within mere weeks after they were seized. We have no information about the conditions they were kept in during the time they were seized until they were tested.

"There is no information to suggest whether they received any rehabilitation or assistance in that time, so they are essentially being assessed on their worse day and everyone of us has had a bad day before and I don't think we'd like to be judged for the rest of our lives on one bad day," Labchuk said.

She says there are numerous animal welfare organizations in and outside Ontario willing to provide rehabilitation and behavioural assessments at no cost to the society, while the society maintains custody over the animals.

There is no organization that can order the society to accept those offers.

"The OSPCA is a private charity, essentially a law enforcement agency, but they are also a private agency which is quite unusual when you look at our Canadian legal system and laws," Labchuk said.

She is also concerned the application includes a letter by a registered licenced veterinarian, practising in Ontario, who described the animals as pitbull-type dogs.

"If the court is asked to put down a pit-bull, the court has to do so," she added.

Labchuk said a number of people are planning to demonstrate outside the Chatham courthouse when the application is spoken to on March 10.

Four people are facing hundreds of criminal charges, not proven in court, following the raid on their residence and seizure of the dogs.